Peninsula Clarion, April 27, 2014

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Homesick Myanmar’s youth leave violence, families behind

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Run Kenai hosts high school track invite Sports/B-1

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CLARION P E N I N S U L A

APRIL 27, 2014 Soldotna-Kenai, Alaska

Vol. 44, Issue 177

$193 million for AK Tribal health

50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday

Kenai to video ice and dipnet fishers

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BUZZ on

BEES

By RASHAH McCHESNEY Peninsula Clarion

By MOLLY DISCHNER Morris News Service/Alaska Journal of Commerce

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Tribal healthcare providers in Alaska are set to receive $193 million in payments for past work, with more settlements expected. Six providers will receive payment for 45 past contract support cost claims from the Indian Health Service, or IHS, Sen. Mark Begich announced April 25. Contract support costs are what Tribes pay to manage Tribal health programs. In 2012, the Supreme Court said that Tribes should be fully compensated for those costs when delivering federal trust responsibilities, such as health care. Under a 1975 Congressional act, authorized entities contract with IHS to operate health care programs ranging from clinic to hospitals, to fulfill the federal government’s trust responsibility to provide health care services to Alaska Natives and American Indians. In Alaska, members of 229 federally-recognized tribes receive health care services from 32 organizations, according to the IHS website. Southcentral Foundation will receive the largest payment — $96.5 million for 17 claims, dating back to 1997. That organization helps run the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage, and operates facilities in the Anchorage and Matanuska-Susitna Borough areas, as well as parts of rural Alaska. Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corp. will receive $39 million for seven claims, Bristol Bay Area Health Corp. will receive $25.5 million for 19 claims, Maniilaq Association will receive $25 million for 6 claims, Arctic Slope Native Association will receive $6.7 million for 15 claims, and Ketchikan Indian Corp. will receive $364,989 for three claims, according to an

Top right: Al Chong aims the bee to hit precisely on his wife Bunny Chong’s joint, for the sting therapy that eases her arthritis symptoms Friday in Soldotna. Above: Sarah Souders holds classes on Beekeeping on the Kenai Peninsula through the Cooperative Extension Service at the Kenai Peninsula College in Soldotna.

Photos and story by Kelly Sullivan/Peninsula Clarion Al Chong twisted off the white lid and waited until one of a dozen humming honeybees made a doomed attempt at squeezing through the small crack created at the rim of the transparent jar. Within seconds the insect was gently immobilized against the top of the bottle cap, held down at the abdomen by Al Chong’s index finger. He then pinched the struggling body between a pair of oversized tweezers. Beside her husband, Bunny

Chong sat with her right hand laid flat on the table in front of her. Unflinching, she made no sign of alarm as Al Chong guided the bees stinger up against the middle joint of her thumb. The Chongs are beekeepers in Soldotna. The couples manages hives in order to ensure a constant supply of honeybees for Bunny Chong’s Bee Venom Therapy, also known as BVT, which she uses to treat her rheumatoid arthritis. The practice of beekeeping

Inside today Cloudy/ Showers 54/34 For complete weather, see page A-16

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See BEES, page A-5

GOP senate candidates spar at forum

See CLAIMS, page A-2

Opinion......................... A-4 Nation........................... A-6 World.......................... A-10 Cops/courts................ A-14 Sports........................... B-1 Community................... C-1 Weddings...................... C-1 Dear Abby..................... C-2 Crossword..................... C-2 Horoscope.................... C-2 Classifieds................... C-3 Mini Page...................... C-9 TV...................... Clarion TV

across the Kenai Peninsula is on the rise, according to local beekeepers Sarah Souders and Jim Van Raden. Residents are learning to manage operations spanning small one-hive collections to some numbering in the hundreds. They’re using them for anything from medical benefits to making organic body products, to tasting Fireweed honey, one of the most sought after honey harvests on

AP Photo/Mark Thiessen

Alaska Republican U.S. Sen. candidate Joe Miller officially launches his campaign before a crowd of about 200 supporters on Monday in Wasilla, Alaska. Miller won the 2010 Republican Senate primary before losing to U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who mounted a write-in campaign for the general election. MARK THIESSEN Associated Press

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The three main Republican candidates for U.S. Senate all are anti-abortion, believe government surveillance goes too far and are not in favor of legalizing marijuana. Fairbanks attorney Joe Miller, former Attorney General

Dan Sullivan and current Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell answered questions posed by viewers Friday night during a televised forum sponsored by Anchorage television station KTUU and the Alaska Press Club., The primary election will be held Aug. 19, when GOP voters will select a candidate to face the incumbent, U.S. Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska. Republicans

see retaking the Alaska seat as key to their efforts to turn the balance of power in the U.S. Senate. When asked if they would support a bill that would recognize that life begins at conception, Miller said protecting life is his top priority, and called the bill a “phenomenal piece of legislation. “It’s my commitment that if elected as your senator, that would be one of the first things I do when I get to D.C. is cosponsor that bill,” he said. Sullivan said he was born and raised a Catholic, is antiabortion, and as a parent, said he was a blessed man to see the ultrasounds of his three daughters and watch them grow into the teenagers they are today. “You understand the sanctity of life, and I’m very committed to that,” he said. However, he said he hasn’t read the bill, and said he feels it’s important to read a bill before he opined on it. “I don’t think life is a men’s issue or a women’s issue, I think it’s an issue for all of us,” Treadwell said. He also hasn’t read the bill, but said it brings up important issues. C

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“The issue of personhood is probably the next big debate in this country. And when does personhood being? And I believe if we’re going to defend the rights of an unborn child, say from assault when a mother, a pregnant mother is assaulted, I think we have to understand personhood begins at conception,” he said. See RACE, page A-2

A camera installed to watch winter ice build-up in Cook Inlet could also be used to monitor the City of Kenai’s busy dipnet beaches. While a final agreement has not yet been signed, representatives from the Cook Inlet Regional Citizens Advisory Council and the City of Kenai were optimistic that the project would move forward. “The tentative agreement is that the city will provide power and internet to them at no cost and they will provide all of the equipment and everything it takes to get it installed,” said Information Technology manager for Kenai Dan Castimore. “At the end of the day it’ll benefit the city as well because they have offered to share the use of that camera in the summer ... when our dipnet fishery is going on which will be very beneficial for us.” Currently the city has video cameras that are trained on the road leading into the North Beach of the Kenai River and one at the sewer treatment plant looking at the parking lot near the same beach. None of the cameras are trained on the mouth of the river. Castimore said law enforcement monitor that video to decide when they need to go to the fishery to direct traffic. The camera will be the ninth added in an array that spans the Cook Inlet and includes Anchorage, Port MacKenzie, Nikiski and three platforms in its coverage area. They’re primarily used for ice forecasting though the cameras can also be used for other purposes, said advisory council director of operations Steve “Vinnie” Catalano. “Part of the agreement we have in place is that the cameras can also be utilized for emergency response and that would include oil spill response,” Catalano said. “If there’s something in the area that the cameras would prove to be useful for the unified command we can get access to them.” The camera would cost just over $6,000. The camera and the installation will be paid for through an Alaska Ocean Observing System grant, Catalano said. See VIDEO, page A-2

Groups ask EPA to enforce Fairbanks pollution solution FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — A coalition of Fairbanks residents and community groups in Alaska’s two biggest cities have filed a civil lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency The groups call on the EPA to force the state to produce a plan addressing pollution in the Fairbanks North Star Borough. The groups ask the U.S. District Court in Seattle to declare EPA administrator Gina McCarthy in violation of the Clean Air Act because the state has failed to submit the plan. A deadline for an improvement plan was due in December See EPA, page A-2


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